Rook is the open-source, cloud-native storage orchestrator specifically designed to automate the deployment, configuration, and lifecycle management of Ceph within Kubernetes environments. Its primary goal is to transform complex, traditionally manual storage systems like Ceph into Kubernetes-native services that are easy to operate and highly resilient.

Ceph itself is a mature and powerful distributed storage platform that supports block storage (RBD), object storage (RGW), and shared filesystems (CephFS). However, operating Ceph directly requires deep expertise, careful configuration, and continuous operational management. Rook addresses this challenge by running Ceph as a set of Kubernetes-managed components and exposing storage capabilities through Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs). This allows administrators to declaratively define storage clusters, pools, filesystems, and object stores using familiar Kubernetes patterns.

Rook continuously monitors the health of the Ceph cluster and takes automated actions to maintain the desired state. If a Ceph daemon fails or a node becomes unavailable, Rook works with Kubernetes scheduling and Ceph’s internal replication mechanisms to ensure data durability and service continuity. This enables self-healing behavior. Scaling storage capacity is also simplified—adding nodes or disks allows Rook and Ceph to automatically rebalance data, providing self-scaling capabilities without manual intervention.

The other options are incorrect for this use case. CubeFS is a distributed filesystem but is not a Ceph orchestrator. OpenEBS focuses on container-attached storage and local or replicated volumes rather than managing Ceph itself. MinIO is an object storage server compatible with S3 APIs, but it does not orchestrate Ceph or provide block and filesystem services.

Therefore, the correct and verified answer is Option C: Rook, which is the officially recognized Kubernetes-native orchestrator for Ceph, delivering automated, resilient, and scalable storage management aligned with cloud-native principles.